The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued a proposed rule that would update payment policies and rates for physicians and nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) for services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) in calendar year (CY) 2012. More than 1 million providers of vital health services to Medicare beneficiaries – including medical and osteopathic physicians, limited license practitioners such as podiatrists, and NPPs such as nurse practitioners and physical therapists – are paid under the MPFS. CMS projects that total payments under the MPFS in CY 2012 will be $80 billion.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is offering free Accelerated Development Learning Sessions (ADLS) for providers interested in learning more about how to coordinate patient care through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Four ACO Accelerated Development Learning Sessions are being offered in 2011, with the first session scheduled for June 20-22 in Minneapolis, MN. Each session will teach providers interested in becoming ACOs what steps they can take to improve care delivery and how to develop an action plan for moving toward providing better coordinated care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed giving physicians additional "hardship" exemptions that will prevent them from being penalized by Medicare for not prescribing electronically this year. The only catch is that the proposed rule won't be finalized until sometime after July 25, when the comment period ends. With a deadline for obtaining an exemption set for Oct. 1, doctors will have roughly two months to apply for an exemption.

Correctional Facilities to Use Electronic Medical Records System for Improved Quality of Care

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.—April 11, 2011—eClinicalWorks®, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that the State of Hawaii, Public Safety Department has selected eClinicalWorks electronic medical records (EMR) system to help manage care at its seven correctional facilities, which are located on four islands. Using eClinicalWorks will allow the department to streamline operations and improve the quality of care provided through its reporting capabilities and the ability to share data between the facilities.

“Facilitating care across multiple islands creates a unique challenge,” said Wes Mun for the State of Hawaii Public Safety Department. “When we decided to adopt an EMR system, we looked for one that would make this information sharing process seamless and allow us to use technology to improve the quality of correctional health care. eClinicalWorks offers that with a comprehensive solution that is easy to customize as well as use.”

Using eClinicalWorks EMR will aid the State of Hawaii in streamlining processes and promoting improved patient care in its correctional facilities. The system will also permit providers to utilize chronic and preventative care measures, including those that are unique to this setting such as suicide watch alerts, etc. The eClinicalWorks EMR will also provide intake screening process flows and a behavioral health module.

“eClinicalWorks offers technologies that improve clinical outcomes for a variety of settings,” said Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. “Our successful implementation experience with correctional facilities, including Rikers Island, makes us a logical solution for this type of facility. We are honored to have been selected by the State of Hawaii, Department of Public Safety.”

Department of Public Health to Use Electronic Health Records Solution for Improved Continuity of Care among Approximately 230 Providers

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.—May 16, 2011—eClinicalWorks®, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that the City of Philadelphia has selected the company to help improve the continuity of care for the City’s Department of Public Health. Using eClinicalWorks will provide the approximately 230 providers across 20 primary care and correctional clinics with a preventative-care oriented electronic health record (EHR) solution to improve the quality of care through reporting capabilities and the ability to share data between facilities.

“As a provider of health care services, we must meet ARRA/HITECH federal requirements; the eClinicalWorks suite allows us to meet these requirements in a timely way,” said Donald Schwarz, MD, Deputy Mayor and Commissioner for Public Health in the City of Philadelphia. “By deploying eClinicalWorks, we will establish an innovative electronic health record that will support the integration of health services provided by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia Prison System. The single, unified health record will enhance providers’ ability to access and share complete and accurate information, improve the coordination of care for patients, families and other providers.”

Gordon Zeis, Philadelphia’s EHR program director said, “We conducted a long and thorough search for a partner to aid us in providing the platform to reach our program goals in the areas of clinical services delivery, data and knowledge management, data based public health policy formulation, etc. eClinicalWorks was chosen due to its commitment to municipal partnership, data and knowledge integration, experience with ambulatory health and correctional facilities as well as their entrepreneurial spirit.”

Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia Prison System will utilize eClinicalWorks comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) solution for its clinics, combining electronic medical records, practice management, patient portal, interoperability, mobile and messaging capabilities— all unified and linked via a single database. Improving communication with access to real-time information, eClinicalWorks Electronic Health eXchange (eEHX) will serve as a hub providing physicians with improved access to patients’ health information and allowing them to exchange data more effectively, with each other and eventually connecting to health department registries, including those for smoking and vaccines.

“The City of Philadelphia is embarking on a groundbreaking initiative that will lay the foundation for future projects,” said Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. “eClinicalWorks has extensive experience with public health departments, making this a great fit. Our prevention-oriented EHR has already demonstrated improved quality of care and we are pleased to have been selected by the City of Philadelphia.”

As part of eClinicalWorks’ comprehensive EHR solution, Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Philadelphia Prison System providers will have access to the following:

Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) instructed its contractors on how to proceed regarding two policies - (1) the physician signature requirement for requisitions for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests that was finalized in the CY 2011 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, and (2) the face-to-face encounter requirements for home health and hospice that were mandated by Congress in the Affordable Care Act. Both of these policies were effective January 1, 2011.

Wish you knew more about how to use electronic health records (EHRs) to earn incentive payments from CMS? CMS will hold a national provider education call to help you learn more about meaningful use on Thursday, May 19 at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

National Provider Call with Q & A Session

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Provider Communications Group will host a national provider conference call on the 2011 Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program. This toll-free call will take place from 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., EDT, on Tuesday, May 17, 2011.

Beginning in January, 2012, eligible professionals who are not successful electronic prescribers (eRx) based on claims submitted between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011, may be subject to a payment adjustment on their Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) covered professional services.